Feature film project seeks funding for Tuscaloosa shooting

Backers plan to film for month or more in area while utilizing local talent

By Mark Hughes CobbStaff Writer

Published: Friday, March 22, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 11:01 p.m.

Tuscaloosa’s feature filmmaking history isn’t rich, but it will grow one sizeable movie larger if an IndieGoGo campaign launched Thursday grows as expected.

“Song of Kwagala,” based on a script by Chris Schroeder, could involve a month or more of shooting in Tuscaloosa, along with another 10 days to two weeks filming in Uganda. The story follows a burned-out rock star who discovers a meaningful goal for his life by participating in a water-born illnesses benefit concert in Africa. “Kwagala,” pronounced “koo-gala,” means “love” in Lunganda, one of the languages widely spoken in Uganda.

The team gathering to make it happen — including songwriters, musicians, filmmakers and marketing professionals — had a couple of backing offers from more traditional sources, but decided to go the crowd-funding route, to keep “Song of Kwagala” closer to home, said Todd Murphy, a Tuscaloosa businessman who’s helping pull the disparate elements together.

The goal is more than just making a film; hopes are that proceeds from “Song of Kwagala” will help fund clean-water systems, potentially saving millions of lives.

Backers plan to turn the finished story, with original music by Murphy, Nashville songwriter Greg Barnhill, former Kansas singer-­songwriter John Elefante and possibly others, into a stage play as well.

“(Schroeder) wrote this because he got passionate about the cause of more than three million people worldwide, two million of them children, dying from bad water,” Murphy said. “He wants to open people’s eyes, and to open them to giving money one by one, and have the proceeds go to the cause.”

Schroeder, introduced to Murphy by mutual friend Grant Merz, liked some music the Tuscaloosa songwriter was working on with Barnhill in Nashville. As they were listening to Tuscaloosa native Chuck Tilley perform, Elefante jumped on stage to sing, and “the next thing you know we’ve got John in on the music,” Murphy said.

Yet another piece clicked into place with Michael Wilk, since 1982 the keyboardist for John Kay and Steppenwolf, who’s been living in Tuscaloosa since last July. His daughter Mandy is a flutist and musical therapy major in the University of Alabama’s School of Music, and since September, Wilk has been teaching studio recording techniques at UA, while still flying out to make Steppenwolf gigs. Murphy tracked him down through the Steppenwolf website, a process that routed through band founder and frontman Kay’s manager, to Kay, to Wilk’s manager and finally to Wilk.

“We’ve got all those filters so we don’t wind up answering a bunch of ‘Duh, what size underwear do you wear?’ questions,” Wilk said.

He was impressed by Murphy’s persistence, but also by the humanitarian spirit of the venture, similar to work done by his famous bandmate, who through his Maue Kay Foundation supports individuals and groups working in wildlife, the environment and human rights activities. Wilk, who’s been mixing sound for the Million Dollar Band, the UA Wind Ensemble and others, created further ties to Tuscaloosa.

“There is an amazing amount of hidden talent here that nobody knows about,” Wilk said. Not only could UA’s ensembles perform much of the soundtrack for the film, he said, but composing students might be involved in the writing of the incidental music. A team including Wilk, School of Music Chair Charles “Skip” Snead, guitarist and Arts and Sciences associate dean Tom Wolfe and others plan to meet next week to discuss possibilities.

Robby White of Nine.Is interactive marketing has been helping to set up the campaign, including links with IndieGoGo.

“This could be a great thing for the city,” White said, as a showcase for local talent, but also to position Tuscaloosa as a creative center like Austin, Texas.

The kickoff party was Thursday night at Nine’s downtown offices, with a goal of $341,000, although Murphy expects to top that figure. The IndieGoGo page shows a video explaining the project, with further text remarks by Schroeder. Donations can be made at levels from $10 to $10,000, with perks sweetening the pot.

For example, for a $125 Dinner and a Movie donation, perks include a DVD of the finished film, a CD of the soundtrack, official movie T-shirt, limited edition poster and ­behind-the-scenes photo album. For the $10,000 The Big Kwagala donation, there’s all of the above plus more, including a private dinner, red carpet premiere, two VIP passes to all filming locations, and a speaking role in the film, with a framed copy of the donor’s part of the script.

The online campaign will run for 40 days, during which the team will continue to solicit donations from other sources. Costs will probably run $1.5 million or more; while the plan is to use as much local talent as possible, including young Tuscaloosa filmmakers such as Marc Patterson and Connor Simpson, a Hollywood line producer will be brought on board to keep track of budgeting and other technical details, Murphy said.

If that goes well, shooting is expected to begin in Tuscaloosa and other locations around the state this summer, before moving to Africa. The goal is to finish primary shooting by fall, and release a finished film by the end of the year, or early in 2014.

To learn more about the project, see www.songofkwagala.com. To donate or learn more about the crowd-funding campaign, see www.indiegogo.com/projects/song-of-kwagala.

<p>Tuscaloosa's feature filmmaking history isn't rich, but it will grow one sizeable movie larger if an IndieGoGo campaign launched Thursday grows as expected.</p><p>“Song of Kwagala,” based on a script by Chris Schroeder, could involve a month or more of shooting in Tuscaloosa, along with another 10 days to two weeks filming in Uganda. The story follows a burned-out rock star who discovers a meaningful goal for his life by participating in a water-born illnesses benefit concert in Africa. “Kwagala,” pronounced “koo-gala,” means “love” in Lunganda, one of the languages widely spoken in Uganda.</p><p>The team gathering to make it happen — including songwriters, musicians, filmmakers and marketing professionals — had a couple of backing offers from more traditional sources, but decided to go the crowd-funding route, to keep “Song of Kwagala” closer to home, said Todd Murphy, a Tuscaloosa businessman who's helping pull the disparate elements together.</p><p>The goal is more than just making a film; hopes are that proceeds from “Song of Kwagala” will help fund clean-water systems, potentially saving millions of lives. </p><p>Backers plan to turn the finished story, with original music by Murphy, Nashville songwriter Greg Barnhill, former Kansas singer-­songwriter John Elefante and possibly others, into a stage play as well.</p><p>“(Schroeder) wrote this because he got passionate about the cause of more than three million people worldwide, two million of them children, dying from bad water,” Murphy said. “He wants to open people's eyes, and to open them to giving money one by one, and have the proceeds go to the cause.”</p><p>Schroeder, introduced to Murphy by mutual friend Grant Merz, liked some music the Tuscaloosa songwriter was working on with Barnhill in Nashville. As they were listening to Tuscaloosa native Chuck Tilley perform, Elefante jumped on stage to sing, and “the next thing you know we've got John in on the music,” Murphy said.</p><p>Yet another piece clicked into place with Michael Wilk, since 1982 the keyboardist for John Kay and Steppenwolf, who's been living in Tuscaloosa since last July. His daughter Mandy is a flutist and musical therapy major in the University of Alabama's School of Music, and since September, Wilk has been teaching studio recording techniques at UA, while still flying out to make Steppenwolf gigs. Murphy tracked him down through the Steppenwolf website, a process that routed through band founder and frontman Kay's manager, to Kay, to Wilk's manager and finally to Wilk.</p><p>“We've got all those filters so we don't wind up answering a bunch of 'Duh, what size underwear do you wear?' questions,” Wilk said.</p><p>He was impressed by Murphy's persistence, but also by the humanitarian spirit of the venture, similar to work done by his famous bandmate, who through his Maue Kay Foundation supports individuals and groups working in wildlife, the environment and human rights activities. Wilk, who's been mixing sound for the Million Dollar Band, the UA Wind Ensemble and others, created further ties to Tuscaloosa.</p><p>“There is an amazing amount of hidden talent here that nobody knows about,” Wilk said. Not only could UA's ensembles perform much of the soundtrack for the film, he said, but composing students might be involved in the writing of the incidental music. A team including Wilk, School of Music Chair Charles “Skip” Snead, guitarist and Arts and Sciences associate dean Tom Wolfe and others plan to meet next week to discuss possibilities.</p><p>Robby White of Nine.Is interactive marketing has been helping to set up the campaign, including links with IndieGoGo.</p><p>“This could be a great thing for the city,” White said, as a showcase for local talent, but also to position Tuscaloosa as a creative center like Austin, Texas.</p><p>The kickoff party was Thursday night at Nine's downtown offices, with a goal of $341,000, although Murphy expects to top that figure. The IndieGoGo page shows a video explaining the project, with further text remarks by Schroeder. Donations can be made at levels from $10 to $10,000, with perks sweetening the pot.</p><p>For example, for a $125 Dinner and a Movie donation, perks include a DVD of the finished film, a CD of the soundtrack, official movie T-shirt, limited edition poster and ­behind-the-scenes photo album. For the $10,000 The Big Kwagala donation, there's all of the above plus more, including a private dinner, red carpet premiere, two VIP passes to all filming locations, and a speaking role in the film, with a framed copy of the donor's part of the script.</p><p>The online campaign will run for 40 days, during which the team will continue to solicit donations from other sources. Costs will probably run $1.5 million or more; while the plan is to use as much local talent as possible, including young Tuscaloosa filmmakers such as Marc Patterson and Connor Simpson, a Hollywood line producer will be brought on board to keep track of budgeting and other technical details, Murphy said.</p><p>If that goes well, shooting is expected to begin in Tuscaloosa and other locations around the state this summer, before moving to Africa. The goal is to finish primary shooting by fall, and release a finished film by the end of the year, or early in 2014.</p><p>To learn more about the project, see www.songofkwagala.com. To donate or learn more about the crowd-funding campaign, see www.indiegogo.com/projects/song-of-kwagala.</p>